User blog:Eglantis/The "Seven Basic Plots" and How Eglantis Fulfills Them All (My 5th blog post! Yay!) (Forgot to count the last one. Deal with it.)
Eglantis, as any of you know, is a pretty vast story at this point. Encompassing a plethora of different charecters and substories. Some of this was created for a specific reason - For quite a while of Eglantis' story, it had no protagonist, hence Jonathan. Ithilian was developed as a sign of good to the point of evil. Other parts of it, however, were just ideas that sprung up while listening to music and I immediately said to myself "WELL WHO THE *** IS GONNA STOP ME?!" Frankly, this was the creation of the Lord of the Skies, the ZombieHunters, (LIKE THE SUPER EARLY CONCEPT OF THE ZOMBIEHUNTERS) and even The Schnyauzer. In the beginning, Eglantis was primarily for humor content. After all, this is what first grabbed most of you guys anyways - hyperintelligent cats and mice waging wars using advanced magic and technology, fighting over the number 42, which had already been found by an indestructible creature called a Derpfish. That's the stuff I always talked about first; humor helps keep the attention. But of course, then it slowly turns from a joke ''into a ''story. True conflict between gods is occuring. History and motives for the fuzzers and mice is added. In my opinion, what was the first time Eglantis changed from a joke to a story? Darktew. For a long time, Darktew was my favorite character. (He's still among them. But really I just love all of them now. THIS IS MY SUBSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN. Which is also probably why I'm fine with having a waifu.) Darktew at first was made to be the first true antagonist. But over time, elements of anti-heroism were added. THe first concept of Darktew had him always being evila nd fighting with Destrcuts. And then he was modified to have once been good, but Destructus' tortures have completely brought him to malevolence and ingenius insanity. The first real transition, in my honest opinion, was also the first love story. Well, Gaia and Osiris I guess... OK, the first well-developed love story. Enter Caliso. As a plot device, why is she here? By herself, she represents the diea that darkness is not evil. This in turn is the "lesson" that one should understand the other immediately before immediately judging them as evil. THiat is exactly why Ithilian is an antagonist: He has no regard for the point of view of others. If it's not good to him, which means even the slightest trace of evil (He tries to kill Darktew at one point for kissing Caliso without having been married to her already... Harsh?) then they are worthy of painful execution. But then I noticed a connection between the two plots. Darktew was the evil who was once good, and Caliso was the "evil" who was good all along. These were very similar, so I decided to do what any sane person would do: SHIP 'EM! Caliso helped make Darktew a character who was once good, was now evil, but still had a tiny spark of goodness left in him. All of a sudden, Darktew, the god of darkness and the villain who everyone was supposed to hate, was the first three-dimensional character. The first kiss between Caliso and Darktew was even more incredible than either of them would ever know. At that stage in the infinite proicess of Eglantis' development, this was the transition from a thing for the lulz, to a thing for the OMGSOEPIC Eglantis was a story. At the time. Now, Eglantis is many different stories. From the point of view of different characters (Again, see Ithilian) Eglantis is many different stories. This is why I simply can't have Eglantis be a first-person narrative. There are many different stories within Eglantis at this point. The Theory of Seven Basic Plots This is a theory that states there are only seven true stories, all of which are just told in different ways. Whether or not I agree with it is hard to say. What I can say is that examples of each kind of story can be found within Eglantis. THis post is here to prove it. Eglantis is many different stories, and must be able to be considered ALL stories, since it encompasses, oh I don't know, THE WHOLE OMNIVERSE. Dr. Who may travel through his own multiverse, but Eglantis technically encompasses stories that encompass all other stories. Now that is deep stuff. Overcoming the Monster The protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force that threatens the protagonist and/or the protagonist's homeland. This is the most widespread plot of them all. Instant example that pops into mind? Jonathan sets out to overthrow the corrupt governments of the future to save Earth. Other examples include Jonathan's struggle against Painting to save himself and the multiverse, Destructus against Darktew to save themselves, and Shadow against Warlic, fighting their homelands. (Shadow for Dementia, and Warlic for Eglantis.) THese are just the first ones I thought of. Countless can be found. Heck, even the derpfish are fighting for their own kingdom! Rags to Riches The poor protagonist acquires such things as power, wealth and a mate, before losing it all and gaining it back upon growing as a person. Now guys, I'm a realist. While this is a fantasy series, I like to keep things realistic. (I said as I talked about our universe originally being made of cheese.) The fact is that this doesn't really happen all that often in life, nor will it in Eglantis. But there is some amount of this in the story. It will eventually happen with alargely one-dimensional, but lovable, character. Anglachel is not poor to begin with, he's in fact quite rich. His story turns out to e a little bit of a parody of this. He's gaining "badassery." THat's basicaly the whole reason he becomes one of the ZombieHunters, to become more powerful and badass. WHich he does. But his hubris and pride eventually leasd to his downfall. I don't want to spoil stuff that's barely canon yet, but in one battle, Anglachel's sunglasses are finally removed - because both his eyes are stabbed with daggers. He's lost his sunglasses, the incarnation of his suave, hsi action-hero coolness. Taking a blindfold over his eyes, in part 3 he actually, believe it or not, becomes a blind, pacifist monlk living peacefully in the mountains. WHile this seems like abetter thing, this is him actually losing badassery. But eventually, he gains it back after growing as a person. Hilariously, after a large amount of thought as a monk. He grew as a person during that time, but in this growth, he turned out in the end to be the exact same as the beginning. The Quest The protagonist and some allies set out on an adventure, overcoming the threats it poses to them, and facing many obstacles along the way. The ZombieHunters are the immediate example of this. They were basically first conceived as the Lord of the RIngs-esque grand adventure. Feron is the protagonist here, but all of them can be seen as the main character in a way. They fight many battles to get through their quest to defeat the Darkness Within, but are victorius in the end. That is, until Shadow arises... Muahaha... Voyage and Return The protagonist goes to a strange land, and after overcoming the threats it poses to him or her, returns with nothing but experience. Again, the ZombieHunters. Well, they do return with some more powerful magical weapons and stuff, but very little treasure or anything that'd actually affect their normal lives. They're thrown right back into war anywyas, returning to Eglantis at the height of the Vecna War. Comedy A light and humorous character with a happy and cheerful ending. A dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstances, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion. This is the scarcest of all the plots. Eglantis isn't light and fluffy. After the fuzzers, mice and derpfish, things start getting more complex and interesting than such things, but these elements can still be seen in two characters: The Random People. Two funny and light characters who start as friends, but end up fighting each other. But in the end, they make up again, in a nice happy ending for them. Tragedy The protagonist is a villain whose death is a happy ending. I know I haven't detailed Guruthos much here, but his story is this. He seems to be the character whose point of view the Alternate Multiverse is told from, and his death, as the villain, is certainly something to be celebrated. Rebirth The protagonist is a villain, or some other unlikable character who redeems him/herself over the course of the story. Darktew is the immediate and obvious example. During the final energy clash between Jonathan and Iluvala, it is Khan who comes to help Jonathan. But also... Darktew? Actually, both these characters are beings who started good, became evil,a dnt hen redeemed themselves to become good again. FUSION: DARKHAN In consclusion: Eglantis is many different stories from many different viewpoints. And an analysis of these different forms of stories will show each one being present within Eglantis. We can also conclude that I'd write a longer conclusion if I wasn't so tired... Category:Blog posts